A dark mirror
by sorianna
Summary: An old, defunct story. I keep it up because I despise burying things just because they bother me. But I /am/ redoing it.
1. Chapter 1

"Doctor" Leela said, her voice strident, angry, and demanding. The Doctor turned to face her, running a hand through his thick, curly brown hair.

"What is it Leela? We're in a bit of trouble, and I don't need you bothering me." Leela crouched, now in front of him, in a defensive posture, absentmindedly gripping the handel of a knife that wasn't there.

"Doctor. I need my knife." The doctor looked at her, as if she had said something very obvious.

"Then why don't you have it?"

"Because you have it!" She hisses. The Doctor looks suprised a moment, eyes wide.

"I do? Oh, yes, I do. Now, where did I put that..." He trails off, rummaging through his pockets, looking for Leela's knife.

"I suggest you stop moving, Time Lord, and turn around slowly. I don't want any tricks." A tall slender man with dark hair says, a long, slim sword pointed at the back of the Doctor's neck. Leela glares at the man, venom in her eyes. She would have attacked him, except for the swarm of well armed guards at his back. The Doctor turns, slowly, hands up, a gleeful expression on his face upon seeing the sword.

"That's a fine sword young man. May I ask where you got it?" The red eyed youth eyes the Doctor with disgust.

"Don't play the fool, Time Lord. Our planets are allied, you know a Bond Sword when you see it. Now, no funny buisness. I want you to stay right there." The man puts his swords away, gesturing to the guardsmen.

"Teslyn. Mieran. Nal. Guard the girl. I don't like her eyes. Imasayn and Raenel, guard the Time Lord. I'll get Mother, she can decide what to do with him and the girl." The five guards break off to their assigned duties, and the rest of the guards went to their previous posts, and the dark heired young man heads off in a seperate direction.

"Would you like a jellybaby, Raenel was it?"

O-(------------------------------ )( ------------------------------)-O

"Mother, there are intruders in the palace. A Time Lord and his companion." The red eyed young man opens the large oaken doors into the throne room of the palace. The pale haired woman on the throne turns towards him, interest sparking in her golden eyes.

"A Time Lord? Very interesting. You haven't done anything... rash, have you Lithinian?" Lithinian shakes his head.

"No Mother. I left some guards guarding him is all."

"Good. I shall go and meet him than. Thank you for telling me, dearheart." She says as she saunters off in the Doctor's direction.

O-(------------------------------ )( ------------------------------)-O

"Are you sure that none of you want a jellybaby?" The Doctor says. The guards glare at him, looking worn.

"No." They repeat, eyes flashing. Even Leela looks to be tired of the repetition.

"Are you absolutely sure-"

"If my guards say they don't want one, then they don't want one." The pale haired woman walks up behind the Doctor, two black swords floating behind her. The Doctor spins around, grins, and walks towards the imposing woman.

"Hullo, I'm the Doctor. It's so nice to meet you. Care for a jellybaby?" The guards take a menacing step forward, ready to protect the white haired woman, and Leela tries to pull the Doctor back. The white haired woman looks at the guards, who stop advancing.

"He is no threat. You may return to your posts. Thank you for your help." Her voice is soft and kind. The guards bow, and stride away. Leela steps up behind the Doctor, and hisses in his ear.

"Doctor! Who is this woman?"

"This my dear Leela..." He says, raising his voice so the woman could hear, and grinning like a maniac.

"Is the Lady Sorianna, Queen of Serapis. She's a good friend of mine." Sorianna smiles wryly at the Doctor.

"Nice to see you again, Doctor. Nice to meet you... Leela was it?"

A/N- Sorianna is the main character in most of my non-fanfiction stories. visit my fiction press stories to read some of them. Also, R&R, so that I write another chapter. Also, this is my first fanfiction, so be gentle.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, you know this woman?" Leela asks, eyeing Sorianna. Sorianna is leading them through the halls of the large building, presumably towards her room.

"Didn't I already answer that? She's an old friend of mine." The Doctor is cheerfully following her, inspecting everything as they go past. Leela tugs on his sleeve, trying to get his attention.

"But how do you know her? Where did you meet?" The Doctor opens his mouth to answer, but Sorianna puts a hand on his shoulder, effectively stopping him.

"Could we please wait until we're in the safety of my rooms before drawing any more attention to ourselves?" She whispers. Leela looks at her mockingly.

"I thought you were Queen. Shouldn't you be safe anywhere here?"

"If you doubt my Queenship, then you are mistaken. If you are criticizing the fact that I don't feel safe in my own palace, then you should know that, physically I am safe, but thanks to you, I am no longer politically safe." She turns around, simply continuing to walk when the Doctor questions her. They follow her down the hallway, stopping as she stops at a branching hallway. The carpet in the main hallway was black and gold, the colors of Nehelin royalty. In the new hallway the carpet turned a deep crimson.

Sorianna puts a hand up, motioning them to stay where they are. She gestures quickly with her hand, and a small wind wraps around her. In an instant she was invisable. Leela yelped, and even the Doctor looked a bit suprised.

"How did she do that?" Leela asks quitly, blue eyes wide.

"I believe she used magick. As usual. It's just that she used it here that suprised me." Leela looks over to him, scepticism on her face.

Suddenly the pale haired Shapeshifter appears again, a very serious look on her face.

"We were lucky this time, but next time, try to be a little more quiet?" The Doctor opens his mouth to say something, but Sorianna just turns around the corner, and walks down the hall. The two have no real choice but to follow.

It's a short hallway, with about six doors opening off of it on one side, and only two on the other, both spaced very far apart. Sorianna strides to the far door on that side, opening it, waiting for Leela and the Doctor. She hurries them in, closing the large, heavy, dark door behind her. She sighs tiredly and sinks to the floor, back to the door.

"Gods, you always do make trouble for me, don't you Doctor?" She sighs, head in her hands. Leela is curiously inspecting the large room. It appears to be a bedroom, with a huge bed against the far wall, a few shelves and tables full of personal items, and a large chiffonier with assorted makeup on it. The mirror was startlingly clear, and reflected back everything in the room.

"What trouble did I cause you this time, Sorianna." The Doctor spoke as though he was speaking to a rebellious child. Sorianna glares up at him.

"You don't know?"

"No, apparently not." The Doctor is looking guilless, and Sorianna smiles faintly.

"Well, that's a good sign at least." Sorianna stands up and walks over to the chiffonier, ignoring Leela standing beside her. She taps on the crystal-bright mirror, and it grows dark for a moment, before a face appears on it's smooth surface. A man with dark silver hair and mirror-bright eyes stares out of the surface of the mirror, looking sleepy.

"Wha is i', Sorianna?" His voice is thick with sleep, and he rubs his eyes. She smiles at him lovingly.

"Sorry to wake you, heartshade. But I just wanted to tell you, I have confirmation that the Doctor didn't do it."

"Well, we knew that before, and I have a feeling this isn't a proof you can show to the Court or Council, so I don't see how this effects anything." Sorianna looks crestfallen for a moment.

"I hate it when you have a good point. Still, this is an advantage. I'll find out what I can." The silver-haired man nods, and runs his fingers down the mirror, his face dissappearing from it's surface. Leela is looking confused, as is the Doctor.

"Could you perhaps explain that cryptic conversation, Lady?" Sorianna turns to him somberly.

"You've been accused of murdering the High Lady Nithsaen."

A/N- Ha! Cliffhanger! Chapter three will come eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

"I was accused of killing who now?" The Doctor asks incredulously. Sorianna looks at him, her whole body showing how tired she was.

"The Lady Nithsaen. She was daughter to Lord Kaebriesel, who is High Lord of the Court." The Doctor looks at her askance. Leela looks a bit confused.

"Why was I accused? What evidence was there?" The curly-haired Time Lord asks, trying not to panic. Leela has picked up on the situation and is leaning against the bed, fingering her dagger, watching the door. Sorianna sighs, slumping into the chair beside the chiffonoir. She motions to another chair in the corner and the Doctor drags it opposite of the Shapeshifter Queen, and sits down, focusing on her face.

"It was a delegate from Shinasa who found her body. He said that he saw a tall man with curly hair wearing a "barbaric" coat (because, as you know, Doctor, the Shinasians absolutely deplore clothes or furniture made of living things, even plants.) running away from the body." Leela looks at her sharply, her words accusing.

"And why was the Doctor blamed for this? There must be hundreds of tall, curly haired men in this place." Sorianna looks at her, weariness in her eyes.

"Yeah, except we showed him images of all the delegates that were there and he picked out -you- Doctor. He was ceartain of it. And you know how insanely rare it is for a Shinasian to be certain." The Doctor looks up sharply, clearly having an idea.

"But I wasn't here as a delegate. Why was my image in the collection?" Sorianna closes her eyes, almost in pain.

"Because you were." She whispers. The Doctor looks confused.

"But I wasn't." He protests.

"At least, I think I wasn't." He knew the Shapeshifter's dislike of certainty, ever since she'd come back from Earth. And the fact that he was a time traveller didn't help anything. She nods, eyes still closed, looking very focused.

"Since you showed up, I've had a sneaking suspicion. It's one I don't like, which was why I didn't consider it before." The Doctor nods, urging her to continue.

"You were summoned as a delegate, because the matter concerned all planets connected to Serapis. Or at least the Court thinks it does, and so long as I get my way, I'd jump through any hoop..." She trails off, thinking. Then she shakes her head, as if clearig away spider webs, and continues talking.

"And you arrived in your TARDIS, with a companion, who's name, you said, was Abbadon. So we let you and your companion in, giving you your typical rooms. And then, a day after your arrival, we find Nithsaen dead, and you accused. Of course, you couldn't be found." The Doctor narrows his eyes, thinking. Leela chooses then to ask a few questions. She was very intelligent, but there were things she didn't know.

"But it wasn't the Doctor, he was with me the whole time. So how was it him?" The white and crimson haired woman looks up at her, remembering that not everyone always knew as much as she did. It brought back a memory of a chocolate haired young woman, always left outside the circle of Knowing... She blinks back tears and answers Leela's question.

"I suspect it was one of my people impersonating him." Her words are soft. She hadn't wanted to believe it. She had wanted to believe it was some very talented illusionest. But there was no tang of magic in the area. She would have smelled an illusion that complicated when the mystery person arrived. Damn. Leela persists with her questions.

"But how could someone impersonate the Docor so well? It's not possibble." Sorianna stands up, brushing of her immaculate skirts.

"I'll show you." She turns to the Doctor.

"May I use your shape, in all details? Just this once, just for an example?" The words have a formal ring to them, as though there is a contract being made. The Doctor nods. Sorianna takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. Leela looks questioningly at the Doctor, but the Doctor just nods towards the tall shapeshifter. So Leela glances again at the woman, and steps back in suprise. The tall, crimson and white haired woman that had been standing there a second before was gone. Instead was an even taller man, with curly brown hair. It was as though someone had superimposed a picture of the Docor over Sorianna. And as Leela watched the person shifted even more until it was an exact duplicate of the Doctor. Even the Doctor looks on amazed. The person, who was still Sorianna, though she/he appeared to be the Doctor spoke in the Doctor's voice.

"As you can see, Leela, taking a different shape is the Shapeshifter's special gift. Like traveling the Waves of time is for the Time Lords, so the change of Shape is for the Shape Shifters." Within a few short seconds she has shifted to her regular form, shrinking a few inches, crimson and red hair growing in place of curly brown hair.

"And that is how someone could impersonate the Doctor. It is illegal for us to take on someone's form without their detailed permission, but it is done sometimes." Leela nods, a bit shocked, but not showing it. The Doctor is thinking, and nearly ignoring everyone else in the room.

"But there's no way we can prove it wasn't the Doctor yet, so you two are going to have to stay hidden in my rooms. I have to leave, I'm trying to find some evidence, and I have to make sure no-one else gets murdered. No wandering, Doctor, I'm in enough trouble as is." With that Sorianna leaves the room. Leela looks at the Doctor expectantly, knowing his bad habits, but he shows no sign of wanting to leave.

"I know Sorianna. If she says she's in trouble, she really is, and wouldn't forgive me if I got her in worse trouble. We stay here for now." With that he leans back in the chair and proceeds to fall asleep.


End file.
